Grow a World from Network Traffic

Packet Garden captures information about how you use the internet and uses this stored information to grow a private world you can later explore.

With each day of network activity a new world can be generated, each of which are stored as tiny files for you to browse, compare and visit as time goes by. You can think of packet gardens as pages from a network diary.

Each time we use a computer and connect to the internet, there are ports that were open and sending out tiny little packets all around your network.

It can be Peer to Peer applications, Instant Messaging applications, checking an email, browsing on the web, uploading a file through FTP, or even playing games online.

All of that generates information which is used and presented with a beautiful visualization called Packet Garden.

Packet Garden was developed by Julian Oliver, originally an experimental artwork that seeks to provide an alternative and accessible approach to visualizing daily internet use. It runs on every platform that we had Windows, Linux, and even OS X computers :D

You will have a unique 3D virtual world that built to your network usage :) For example, if you download something, then it will be represented as valleys with the size matching how big the data are ;) and vice versa for uploading which represented in hills :D


For each type of traffic, you'll see a different type of plant for each type of traffic ;)


After you installed the Packet Garden, you need to capture a traffic first, and then you can grow a world :) you can load it the next time you wanted to visit this world :) if you go inside the world, you'll become a little ball :P and can move around, too bad you cannot zoom out/in :P

Anyway, if you have a decent PC, this will run pretty smooth ;)

Have a try :) it's fun :D




[via: o'reilly radar]

The War of the Worlds

But who shall dwell in these worlds if they be inhabited?
. . .
Are we or they Lords of the World?
. . .
And how are all things made for man?

KEPLER (quoted in The Anatomy of Melancholy)

The War of the Worlds (1898), by H.G. Wells, is an early science fiction novella which describes an invasion of England by aliens from Mars. It is one of the earliest and best-known depictions of an alien invasion of Earth, and has influenced many others, as well as spawning several films and a television series based on the story.

Dark Horse Comic has a really nice War of the Worlds Comic version ^^ packed in 125 colourful pages.



If you wanted to have a soft-copy of the novel, then grab in on Project Gutenberg, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

Or perhaps you prefer War of the Worlds in an audio-book so that you can listen to it using your iPod in your daily traffic jam :P

Either way, it's a really good read, otherwise it won't be continuously in print for over 100 years wouldn't it ? ;)

Cut and Glue a Toypaper Yourself

Toypaper.co.uk has a collection of cute little paper toys for girls and boys :D They provide a .pdf file on the Archive section for download. And after that it'll only take 10-30 minutes to cut and glue the paper ;)



It all started when John McGhee create a monster on one rainy Sunday in 2006. And the name is Humbles. Humbles was a lonely Love Monster, he is a very sociable and happy character, and likes being on desks, coffee tables or inside refrigerators - anywhere where he can say hello.
And now throughout the year, Humbles is receiving many friends to accompany him ;) Each have it's own profile and story too :)

So, have yourself a cute little paper toys ^^ a nice weekend ^^

Beethoven's Hair

On March 26th, 1827 Ludwig Van Beethoven died in Vienna. The day after, a twelve year old boy cut a lock of his hair as a souvenir.

167 years later the hair was sold at an auction in London. Its new owners were two Americans, Ira Brilliant and Che Guevara.

Between those dates the lock of hair undertook an extraordinary historical odyssey. From hand to hand, from country to country, and from century to century.

This is the story of that journey.

This beautiful and yet creepy (yes, it's a bit creepy) is based on the film Beethoven's Hair itself, which is inspired by the best-selling book by Russel Martin.

Take part in Beethoven's Hair journey throughout the world with a marvelous game.



You take part as a butterfly, simply move around your mouse, and press up or down key, to fly higher or lower ;)

The website and the game were all Flash-based perfectly done by XENOPHILE MEDIA. This is the kind of Flash work that always make me amazed ! Beautiful and perfect !


[via: Ursi's Blog]

Smiley Turns 25, Happy Birthday !

I'm a heavy user of smiley :D and you know what ? Smiley is 25 Years Old Now :D

Scott E. Fahlman Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly.

"I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)," wrote Fahlman. "Read it sideways."

Who would've thought that it began with some "joke marker" ? ;)

Happy Birthday to the 25 Years Old Smiley :D

More eBooks From Professor Solomon

Have you finished reading The Book of King Solomon i introduced to you ?

If you do, then Professor Solomon have another 2 ! Yes ! TWO ! For you ;)

Japan in a Nutshell
At last, the unknown Japan. The traditional Japan. The real Japan.

Who are the Japanese? Where did they come from? What are the origins of this unique people?

Professor Solomon give us a brief yet depth detail of Japan. In this Japan in a Nutshell book, you'll find enormous information regarding Japan, you will know the dos and don'ts, places for sightseeing, a general info on where to stay, enjoying an o-furo ;) having a nice tea ceremony, and whole lot more !

Go and download the 6 MB Japan in a Nutshell to print out and read ;)

Now from the East, we switched to the West ;)

Coney Island
A tribe called the Canarsie dwelt in the forest that the urban wilds of Brooklyn have replaced. That forest has utterly vanished; and so, too, those for whom it was home and hunting ground.

I probably will never heard Coney Island if it wasn't for Professor Solomon. Actually maybe it's because i was more interested in the East culture, China, Japan, Mongolia, Persia, etc. :P

Once renowned as a funspot, Coney Island has been largely forgotten. Does it still exist? What has survived of the place? And what was it like? In his book CONEY ISLAND, Professor Solomon takes us there to find out.

Go and download the 6 MB Coney Island to print out and read ^^

All of this eBooks are brought to you by Professor Solomon :)

Thanks for the tip Professor ;)

Happy Programmer Day

Happy (Belated) Programmer Day. Just found out from stii that yesterday is a Programmer Day :D Phew! Been a very busy week nowadays!

Having a programmer background, this truly is a joy to share :D

Programmer Day is the 256th day of every year, September 13th or the 12th on leap years.

To all the programmers out there, KC have the same questions as me ;)

If we’re celebrating the 256th day, why does the logo have 1111 1111 (255) instead of 1 0000 0000 ? What are programmers if not detail oriented?

Can you answer it ? :D

It's fun to read on How do you say Happy Programmer Day :D

Lotsa geekiest way to say Happy Programmer Day :D Anyway 3B858B9E5DBA7739EF8EC98D2808490D41EEC527 ;)

WEB 2.0 Design Quiz

Take a minute to complete our new special Web 2.0 quiz and figure out how smart you are on this issue. We have composed this quiz with the help of the world’s best Web 2.0 experts - although they most likely have no idea they were involved. Even so the results are believable. After you take this test you will receive a special code with the results on an icon that you can place on your website so that every visitor can see how aware of the Web 2.0 issues you are.

I had 2 wrong answers :P

How bout you ? ;)


[via: CSS Juice]

The Book of King Solomon

Wise man on earth can be counted, few can be named through out the history. King Solomon, was one of them :)

As many of you who are Christian or Catholic, i believe you all know his wisdom. But wisdom, can be applied to every aspect of our life. So, even if you're not Christian or Catholic, this book can be a valuable reading for you ;) I also read others wisdom from the East, Zen, Buddha, everything, well, that's another story.

Back to The Book of King Solomon now. This book is generously given to you for FREE ! By the author himself !

Professor Solomon, an "amateur professor" with a degree in English from Harvard, Professor Solomon is a findologist—an expert at finding lost objects.

Authorship of The Book of King Solomon is explicitly credited to "Ahimaaz, Court Historian." Moreover, this same Ahimaaz appears in the story. He plays a part in the struggle with Absalom; and on several occasions he discusses with Solomon the chronicle he is keeping.

Turning to the Bible, we do find an Ahimaaz in the court of King Solomon—but there is no indication of his being a historian. He is presented rather as the resourceful son of Zadok, the High Priest. The Biblical Ahimaaz helps defeat Absalom; eventually marries a daughter of Solomon; and is appointed governor of Naphtali. A certain Jehoshaphat, meanwhile, is mentioned as chronicler during the reign of Solomon.

One of my favourite is the story about the Disputed Infant. The way King Solomon solve the problem is amazing ! Here are some excerpt of the story.

Solomon addressed the two women. "This is a difficult case," he said. "We have no witnesses—no evidence as to which of you is the mother—no way to ascertain which of you is telling the truth and which is not. So we must seek a compromise, rather than justice. A settlement. Do you follow me?"

They nodded uncertainly.

"Captain," said Solomon, "divide this living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other."

What a bold decision from the King. Well, some of you may have know how the story end ;) As for those of you who are curious, head on the Professor Solomon page, to get the book for FREE ! ^^

Howtoons is FUNtastic !

Howtoons is a bloody FUNtastic comic cartoon style strips, which is easy-to-follow, story-driven instructions on DIY projects using simple stuffs ! Even a kid can do this !

Joost Bonsen and Saul Griffith, grad students at the MIT Media Lab are the brains behind all of these :D Both were inspired as kids by the imaginative power of comics and cartoons. And they hope to make Howtoons so intriguing that kids tear themselves away from television and computer screens in order to learn the old-fashioned way--through hands-on experimentation.

Howtoons is available via the official Howtoons page. DIY projects have never been this fun ! They provide the idea behind, list all the materials, guide you on how to DIY, and all of this was presented in a comic strip, thanks to professional DC Comics artist Nick Dragotta ;)


But the best thing of Howtoons is the .pdf they offered for FREE! ^^ you can print all of 'em :D

And if that's not enough there's an Instructable's Howtoons version too, an addition to the official site :P also here we get to see some movie too :D


And if you do like this kinda thing, they have a book too ;) Howtoons: The Possibilities Are Endless! Perfect for your kids or your nephews birthday gift :D

Hm... gonna spend the weekend launching a Soda Bottle Rocket :D or maybe play some Tabletop Hockey

Who knows ?! The possibilities are endless ! ;)

Have a nice weekend folks ^^

HTML Playground

HTML Playground is a nice way to present a reference ! It is an (X)HTML and CSS reference by example ;) A perfect companion for learning the YAML (X)HTML/CSS Framework ;)

HTML Playground present the reference in a nice way, they make learning fun ;)
They brilliantly give all of your need in just 5 steps

First is of course, the list of all HTML tags, which you can browse through and select one of it ;)

Back then, i always refer to Emil Stenström's Encyclopedia of HTML Elements from friendly bit, which is very simple that even an elementary school can understand ;)

_____________________________________________________

After you select a tag, a description will be shown to you.

_____________________________________________________

Along with the description, it provides an example code, consisting the tag that you've selected in the first step.

The example are made with the correct structure, complete from title to body.

There are other tags here which you can also click to learn about it ;)

_____________________________________________________

And if you're not satisfied yet, you can add a style to the tag ;)

This come in an easy way !

For every tag you click, it will list all the possible style, in which you can add to the code ;)

_____________________________________________________

All of that, of course, come with the rendered Results ;)

So you don't need to fire-up and editor, save it to an html file, and then open it in your browser :P

All the hassle are gone :D

_____________________________________________________

Now, HTML Playground is sitting in my bookmark ;) This sure come handy when in needs ;) And if you're more curious, there are 3 little buttons on the Example Code area that you might wanna click on it :P


[via: fortysomething]

Strip Annoying >>>> with emailSTRIPPER

So, how many of you gets annoyed over the forward reply thing, the ">" sign on your inbox ? Well, i personally do ! Okay, i can stand if it was once or twice that thing, i mean if it was just ">> your text here" i can read it. But if it's been through a chain of your friends, who forward it, reply forward it again, that is when things become annoying :P

emailStripper is a free program for cleaning the ">" and other formatting characters out of your emails. It will restore "forwarded" or "replied" emails back to their original state so they're easier to read.

While ages back, i always use notepad to search and replace those ">" manually, now you can have emailStripper to do the job ;)

It does perfectly on stripping off the ">" signs. If you have a ">" in the middle of your text, if will assume that that is the correct text ;)

Say, you have this text, i used programming example here :P

>> if a > b then goto c

It will only strip those in front of the text. This is perfect, since if you search and replace using notepad, well, all are being replaced :P



But there's one drawback here. emailStripper will erase all the linebreak, to put it simple, all the stripped results will be written in one whole line ! This could be troublesome if you wanted to retain the same structure of linebreak.

Overall emailStripper, is a handy little tool you can try for sure ;)